EFFECT OF SOCIAL GROUP, ACTIVITY, AND SPECIALIZATION ON RECREATION SUBSTITUTION DECISIONS

Substitutability refers to the extent to which one alternative recreat ion activity can effectively replace another in terms of its ability t o produce desired experiences and benefits (e.g., recreation satisfact ion). Past research into substitution has generally focused on develop ing typologies of substituable activities or on satisfactions obtained and needs fulfilled by activities. These have not, however, proven ad equate in explaining substitution decisions. To better understand recr eation substitution, we propose an approach that considers and evaluat es several elements of recreation choice and their attributes in combi nation. Specifically, we examine substitutability in terms of differen ces in activity choice options, social group with which the preferred activity was to have been pursued, and level of specialization in the initially preferred activity. Data for this study were collected by us ing a mail survey (with a scenario) sent to a sample of recreational a nglers. The instrument was designed as a 4 (specialization levels) x 4 (social groups) x 4 (alternative activities) factorial, which permitt ed identification of main and interaction effects due to these three i ndependent variables. The dependent variable was the probability of su bstituting an alternative activity in place of the planned activity. R esults showed significant main effects for the social group and activi ty treatments, but no significant main effect for the specialization t reatment. Significant interaction effects were found between social gr oup and alternative activity, between social group and specialization level, and between alternative activity and specialization level. Impl ications for future research are discussed, as are a number of issues concerning recreation substitution.